On July 14 every year, people in the Black Country celebrate their heritage and culture with a day of celebrations.

It takes place within a wider programme of activities in the Black Country Festival.

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Enthusiasm for Black Country Day and for the festival has grown over the years, with organisers saying the international success of Peaky Blinders has helped to raise the profile of the region in the UK and overseas.

The BBC crime drama is set in Birmingham and filmed partly at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley.

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So what’s happening on Black Country Day 2016?

Activities taking place on Black Country Day include a whole day of fun at Central Library in West Bromwich - featuring a Black Country Bake-Off cake competition, a photo memory board, children’s activities, film screenings from local arts organisation Multistory and a local history talk.

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There’s also an open mic comedy special at The Holly Bush in Cradley Heath; tours of the White House Cone at the Museum of Glass; an evening networking event at Wolverhampton Business Solutions Centre, University of Wolverhampton Science Park; and a free fun day (11pm to 2pm) at Jubilee Park Community Centre, Tipton, with crafts, theatre, face painting, a tombola, food tasting and a clothes giveaway.

You can also enjoy a Black Country Variety Show at the Great Bridge Library, the launch of a Cider and Cheese Festival by the new landlords of The Lych Gate Tavern and an illustrated talk on The Cradley Heath Women Chainmakers’ Strike of 1910 by local historian Margaret Bradley.

The day is even being celebrated in the United Arab Emirates. At the Rodents Return bar in the British Embassy building in Dubai, there’s "an evening of good food, fun and music to celebrate the glorious Black Country."

So why is it on July 14?

Eric Pickles (left) and Chris Kelly with the new Black Country flag in 2014

July 14 was officially registered as national Black Country Day because it is the anniversary of the invention of the world’s first steam engine. The Newcomen Engine was created in the Black Country in 1712.

An official Black Country flag was designed by Stourbridge schoolgirl Gracie Sheppard and is being flown from the town hall at Dudley, which is often regarded as the unofficial ‘capital’ of the Black Country.

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Local food and drink, music, comedy, arts and crafts are being celebrated across the area.

In government terms, the Black Country includes most of the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton, although there are various other definitions in local history, tradition and folklore.

In 1862, Elihu Burritt, the American consul in Birmingham, described the region as "black by day and red by night", with the red coming from glowing furnaces. This inspired the use of black and red on the Black Country flag, whose design also reflects the local industries making chains and glassware.